(lull rill /-/(((.v.— It was e\i-eeiliiigly ilillieult to get any idea of the 

 relic ions belief. if the |ieopl.'. partly tV.iiii on r inability to make ourselves 

 uii.leisto.i.l in reuar.l toabstia.t ideas and partly from ignorance on our 



jiartof the i)roper limd of eiiudueting siiidi imiuiries. For instance, 



in trying to g.-I at Www i.leasof a fuliir.' life, we could ouly ask "Where 

 d.i.-s a man go when h.' .li.-s .'" to whi.-h we. .if .■ourse, received the 

 ob\ ions answ.T. ■■To I he reiiietery ! " Moreover, such a multitude of 

 otliiT and easier lines of investigation pr.'sent.'d th.'iuselves for our at- 

 t.'iition that w w.-r.' iialunilly iii.-lin.-d to n.-gle.-t the diflicult fiehl of 

 religion, and besid.-s uniler the .■iicunistanres of our intercourse it was 

 almost impossible to get the attention of th.' natives when their minds 

 w.^re not full of otlu'r subjects. 



Nevertheless, many of the fraguu'iits of superstition and tradition 

 that we were able to collect agree remarkably with what has been 

 oliserved among the Kskimo elsewhere, so that it is highly probable 

 that their religion is of the same general character as that of the Green - 

 lander^, namely, a h.-lief in a miiltifn.le of supernatural beings, who 

 are to lie exorcised or propitiate.l by \ ari.nisobservauces, especially by 

 the iierforniances of certain sjieeially gifted people, who are something 

 of the nature of wizards. So much has beeti written by many authors 



''•' iKiivili.- .■.l„^„|■ iliL- Mk-^wA ",IiU!r»- uf ill.- . '1 1 11 k,-li,.s. i 1. Xonlenskiiilifs Voga, vol. l.iip.44» 



